Small changes in the rules that you might not have been aware of

In addition to the rule changes approved by owners, there are a series of editorial changes that are made to the rulebook. First, there are changes that are ripple effects to approved rule changes, such as a rule reference or terminology that needs to be aligned. In some cases, these are existing interpretations that are in printed form, and others are pedantic changes to capitalization, sentence structure, or other phrasing at the desire of the competition committee or the officiating department.

Occasionally, these editorial changes will have the practical effect of creating new rules onto themselves.

It is unusual to receive editorial changes between the preseason and Week 1 of the regular season, but teams were informed of a few changes that might be better described as corrections. For an onside kick, the ball may be propped against the tee, just as any kickoff would have allowed last year. Also, there is now more flexibility to assess fouls that happen when a kickoff is in the air to assess it post-kick. This applies to kicking or receiving team fouls (typically formation or movement violations) and the opponent has the choice to rekick or not.

There were additional editorial corrections that were made at the time the rulebook was printed, including:

• Either you’re on the line or off the line. The rules bring more focus to illegal formations due to lineman not being aligned on the line and were more of a convex formation. A little bit of latitude was given, but it started to get extreme, such that a lineman was sometimes aligned with a backfield receiver. Players that break the snapper’s beltline are on the line and those that do not are off the line. The only exception is the quarterback under center, however to align with these new rules, such a quarterback must have an eligible number or report eligible to the referee before the play.
• 4th timeout option. If a “fourth timeout” is called against a team because of injury, the game and play clocks resume running once the ball is ready for play again. Now, the opponent is allowed to have the option to have the clock start at the snap.
• Backfield change in stance is not a false start. A player in the backfield or a receiver who is not on the line of scrimmage is allowed to change between a 2- and 3-point stance (or vice-versa) at the same time as the snap without triggering a false start. It is a false start if that movement is abrupt or there is a forward movement. (There is no “cheat motion” allowed, contrary to reporting elsewhere during the preseason.) Players on the line can make a non-abrupt stance change as usual, provided they are set for one second prior to the snap and there are no other players in motion at the time.
• Color towels. Players’ towels do not have to be white, they may have the team colors, except that red and yellow are not permitted.
• “Uncatchable” kick-catch interference. The foul for kick-catch interference was modified so that an uncatchable ball is not flagged as KCI. This does not preclude a foul for unnecessary roughness or a hit on a defenseless player.
• Retreating downfield linemen. An offensive lineman who is continuously engaged in a block may legally be more than 1 yard downfield prior to a pass. When he disengages his block, he may legally retreat back to the line. Previously, he could either remain in place or move laterally at the yard line he disengaged.
• Holding on the punt gunner. If a receiving team player holds gunner prior to the punt, the penalty may be enforced as if it occurred after the change of possession, which would be 10 yards from the end of the kick if there isn’t another foul on the play. Like the kickoff rule change, it is intended to reduce the number of rekicks.
• Expanded running into/roughing the kicker. A new rugby-style punt has developed lately, and anything other than a straight-ahead punting motion would remove running into the kicker and roughing the kicker fouls. This pocket area is used to establish a legal perimeter for the punter to move within without losing the protections of the rules. If the punter moves outside of the pocket, the protections are lost until he gets into a kicking posture, but there is a bit of allowance to the defense for a quick transition from running to kicking.
• Tee holder as 12th player. Because of the formation changes, if a kickoff needs to be held in place by another player due to wind, the kicking team will be allowed to have a 12th player on the field to hold and exit the field immediately after the kick. The holder must be an active roster, uniformed player. This was tested in the Hall of Fame game, even though wind was not a factor.
• Play clock after score. The play clock after a score used to be a 40-second clock followed by a 25-second clock. It will now just be a 40-second clock.
• Start of half notification. Officials are to notify designated representatives 2 minutes before and at the time they are to leave the locker room at the beginning of either half. The rules previously stated the coach had to be notified, but that was not followed for practical reasons.